NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-14-2025 12AM EST

Episode Date: February 14, 2025

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NPR covers the stories that shape our world. Whether you're here for news or culture or good conversation, we're proud to be here for you. Federal funding helps keep the public radio network strong and available to all for about a dollar and sixty cents per person each year. Visit ProtectMyPublicMedia.org to learn more about safeguarding public media's future. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shea Stevens. President Trump says he and India's Prime Minister,

Dharendra Modi, have discussed strengthening defense and economic ties between their nations. As NPR's Asma Khalid reports, their White House meeting on Thursday was held on the same day that Trump announced reciprocal tariffs on countries around the globe, including India. The Trump administration says these new tariffs would not be ready until April at the earliest. But it is certainly significant for trade relations. Trump has repeatedly singled India out for its high tariff rates on U.S. imports. At his joint press conference with his Indian counterpart, Trump put it this way. I had discussions with India in the first term about the fact that their tariffs were very high and I was unable to get a concession.

So we're just going to do it the easy way and we're just going to say whatever you charge, we charge. The president also said that India's prime minister has agreed to begin negotiations over long-running trade disparities with the goal of signing an agreement. Asma Khalid, NPR News. Vice President J.D. Vance is set to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. NPR's Deepa Sivaram reports that the U.S. is taking a more active role in efforts to

negotiate an end to the Russia-Ukraine war. Both Vice President Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet with Zelensky in Munich. Vance is also set to deliver remarks at the annual conference, where the Russia-Ukraine war has been a central focus since it started nearly three years ago. On Wednesday, President Trump held a lengthy phone call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and said the two would meet face to face in Saudi Arabia soon. Trump afterward also spoke with Zelensky over the phone.

Vance spoke at the Munich Security Conference last year as well and said it was time for the U.S. to pivot away from its focus on Europe and turn to China and East Asia as the future of U.S. foreign policy. Deepa Sivaram, NPR News. The acting U.S. attorney in Manhattan, Danielle Sassoon, has resigned only days after the Justice Department ordered her to drop the criminal case against the mayor of New York. NPR's Ryan Lucas has details. Danielle Sassoon was appointed last month as acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, arguably the country's most prestigious. But now, a spokesperson

for the office says Sassoon has quit. Her resignation comes just days after the Trump Justice Department leadership ordered her to drop the corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. The DOJ leadership said in a memo that it was directing the case be dropped but had not assessed the strength of the evidence. Instead, it said the charges were brought too close to the city's mayoral election and that they interfered with Adams' ability to help the Trump administration with immigration enforcement. Ryan Lucas, NPR News, Washington. U.S. Futures are flat in after-hours trading on Wall Street. This is NPR.

Communities along the Pacific coast are getting pounded by a winter storm that's causing water and mud flows along hillslides in fire-ravaged parts of Southern California. Bulldozers were being used to clear an intersection in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles that had become submerged in at least three feet of sludge. To the north, the storm caused whiteout conditions and major pileups along highways in Oregon and in Washington State. Carnegie Hall says its upcoming season will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing

of the Declaration of Independence with a six-month music festival. And Harry Connick, Jr. will be making his debut there, as Jeff London reports from New York. Harry Connick Jr., the New Orleans-born crooner, pianist, composer, and arranger, has never been on Carnegie Hall's main stage. But that will change next May. It had to be you. It had to be you. May.

Connick will present two evenings of his work, but May 22nd will be extra special, he says. That date is my mother's hundredth birthday. She always wanted me to play at Carnegie Hall. Connick will premiere a three-m work with piano dedicated to his mother's memory on that evening. For NPR News, I'm Jeff London in New York. Again, U.S. futures are flat and after hours trading on Asia Pacific markets, shares are mostly higher down a fraction in Tokyo. This is NPR News. Bella DiPaolo is glad if you're happily married, but she is perfectly happy being single.

I would love to have someone who took care of my car or someone who cleaned up the dishes after dinner. But then I'd want them to leave. From yourself to your dog to your spouse are significant others. That's on the TED Radio Hour from NPR.